Engraved with Teddy
by Charlie.Lola
Summary: What she had of him was a teddy bear, along with a memory or two. He said he loved her, but he was six back then, he didn't know the meaning of love, and one move brought them apart. She brought a teddy bear, hoping to meet again. [TxG]
1. Entering my Past

**This is a new story, made from Charlie.Lola just for you guys. This is a shared account so this is a co-written story. I hope you like it. Oh, and by the way, this story is co-written by swt2beepinay and her best friend. And this is swt2beepinay typing. (I wrote the first chapter.)**

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"_C'mon Troy, its Valentines Day, and I have to leave in an hour!" six year old Gabriella Montez said, as her hand was dragged by another six year old with the name of Troy Bolton. He led her into the backyard of the Montez' house and stopped in front of the big tree that stood over them._

"_Troy hurry up," Gabriella said, tapping her foot with her arms crossed impatiently as Troy went behind the tree. Troy then came out from behind the tree with his hands behind his back. _

"_Gabriella," Troy said, slowly taking his hands from behind him, and revealing a teddy bear. "This is for you."_

_Gabriella's eyes brightened in happiness, taking the bear into her arms. Troy watched as she stood there hugging the bear close to her body, clinging to it like it was her life._

"_Thank you so much!" Gabriella said, as she practically jumped on Troy with the teddy bear in her arms. _

_Troy stepped back slightly when Gabriella hugged him; obviously startled at first. He smile and returned the hug. _

"_I'm going to miss you, Gabi." He said softly into her ear. Their bodies parted, and Troy wiped a tear from his face. _

"_Are you crying Troy?" Gabriella asked. She stepped closer toward him, and patted his back._

"_It's nothing Gabi; it's just that I can't believe your leaving to California! I mean, that's a bazillion miles away!" Troy said as his voice got louder by each word._

"_Well, Troy I'm going to miss you very much!" Gabriella said. Troy laughed, as did Gabriella._

"_Gabi, I love you this much!" Troy said as he spread his arms wide, showing the big space in between his arms._

"_I love you too Troy!" Gabriella said, as they shared one more hug together, pledging that they would be best friends forever._

Gabriella Montez sat in the passenger seat of her mom's car, releasing hot breath on the window and etching a heart as she thought of the memory in her head. It made her smile, the memory of a young Troy Bolton, spreading his arms wide showing how much he loved her. She giggled to herself at thought of six year olds in love.

Gabriella shifted her position on the seat, as a frown appeared on her face. She hasn't heard from Troy Bolton in eleven years, and moving back to Albuquerque was going to bring back much more than memories.

She held the teddy bear in her arms, half hoping that she would be able to find Troy Bolton again, and continue their friendship that was abruptly cut off when eleven years ago, but half of her didn't want to see him because of the fear of what he thought about her after leaving for so long.

Gabriella's mom made a turn into a familiar neighborhood, and Gabriella's eyes lit up as they came into view with her old house, her home. Her mom managed to get their house back when she heard from the owner they sold it to would be moving into another house in a different state.

Gabriella's car pulled up into the driveway of her new home. "Gabs, we're home."

Ms. Montez exited out of the car, and so did Gabriella. Gabriella took one good breathe, feeling as if she were taking in part of her life; part of herself.

Gabriella rushed through to her room, bringing a few boxes inside with her. Her mom had told her that she had to use her sleeping bag, until they got her bed shipped from the nearby furniture store, but Gabriella didn't mind, all she really cared about was being back to where she grew up.

Gabriella, went back downstairs, and grabbed her teddy bear from the corner of her living room, which was currently filled with boxes, and suitcases filled with clothes. She exited out of the door, and took a small walk to a familiar place; the Bolton's.

Gabriella looked down at her feet as she walked onto a familiar street. Nothing much has changed about his house, except for a few flowers in the front yard, but that's it. She walked across the street and stood in front of the house she knew all too well. She slowly made her way up the steps, hoping to find some kind of courage to ring the door bell, but all she could do was stand in front of the door.

She let out a sigh, and sat down on the small stairs that led to Troy Bolton's home. She placed her elbows on her lap, and used it for support as she leaned on it slowly. She thought about what would've happened if she stayed and never moved. She would've still had her best friend, and who knows what might've happened.

Gabriella looked at her watch, it was almost five o' clock, and her mom probably wanted her back. As she stood up, she heard a door behind her swing wide open.

"Troy, I'll see you later, ok?" a blonde said as she held is hands in hers. Troy looked at her with no emotion, but then noticed Gabriella standing on his front porch. He glanced her way one, and later looked at her.

"Troy," she mumbled under her breathe. She looked at him, hoping he would recognize her. She observed how much he's changed, how his face looked older, and how his body looked stronger than when he was six. How he looked so much older, and how he grew so much taller. Gabriella looked at him longingly.

"Do I know you?" he asked. He looked at her up and down, and something inside his brain told him that he knew her, in some way, but he couldn't quite put a finger on it.

"Uh, no. I'm sorry. I have to go." She rushed, and quickly left the steps, running back to her house.

"Gabriella…" he said subconsciously, as he looked back at Sharpay, resuming their goodbye.


	2. Neverending Doubts

**Hey you guys! Well I'm new to FF, and me and swt2bepinay decided to co-write a story together!** **Whenever we co-write a story together, we will make it on Charlie.Lola. And if you wanna here a story by me it will be on dominoesrising. I hope you like this chapter, it's the first thing I've written on FF. **

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He stared at Sharpay for a split second, anf couldn't seem remain focused. Then he looked back at the girl, running down the block. 

"Gabri-," Troy began to yell, but was cut-off by a forceful movement of his shoulders by Sharpay. "Troy, who's Gabriella?," she said. She looked at him with impatient eyes, waiting for an answer. "Uh, no one." he replied, shaking off his thoughts for the moment.

"Good," she whispered in his ear, then gave him a sweet kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck, hoping that Troy would wrap his around her own waist, but recieved no response. They broke apart, and she looked at him with worried eyes, noticing the stiffness in his movements. Something, wasn't right, something was definatley wrong.

Gabriella, turned around responding to the call of her name. Then she stood there, heartbroken to see him kissing another girl, the kiss that should've been hers.

_I guess he does remember, but it's too late now. _A tear rolled down her cheek, as she resumed her way around the block

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**The Next Day **

_What was I thinking?_ Gabriella stood on her balcony, deep in thought, with her teddy bear at hand. She embraced him, and hugged him close._ I shouldn't have visited him. It was too short notice. _She took a deep sigh, looking down at her lawn as she did so.

_He already has a girlfriend, clearly he's much happier with that frisky blonde._

She walked slowly to her sleeping bag, and sat down, drawing her legs to her chest, contemplating at what had happened the day before, with the teddy bear still close to her body. She looked at the floor to her side, and picked up the picture of a familiar blue-eyed, six year old boy hugging her tightly._ What happened to us?_

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Laying on his bed, Troy Bolton stared at the ceiling for as long as he could remember. _Was that really her? _He thought about it over and over again, and just couldn't really seem to put a finger on it.

Without a second thought, Troy picked up his cellphone, quickly dialling Sharpay's phone number.

"Listen Sharpay, I just wanted you to know that there will be no secrets between us. Gabriella, was an old friend." Troy said over panicked.

"Okay." she said simply. She had no idea why his voice was so tense, and she thought that maybe it was at the end of the conversation. She knew Troy, and she knew that he never got to the point until the end.

"When we were young, well you could say we fell in love, but we were to young young to know what the meaning of love was." he said too quickly.

"Okay." she repeated. There was nothing wrong with puppy love, right?

"So tomorrow I'll set her straight, from now on, you are and always will be, the only girl for me." he finished, almost out of breath. He wiped his forehead in relief, hoping she wouldn't blow up.

"Perfect, but promise me you won't hurt the poor girl, I mean, an old friend, you guys must know everything about each other, so you know how fragile she is, " she said simply once more, trying to be as polite as she could. Gabriella wasn't a problem to their relationship, so what was the need for a fight? "I'll see you Monday Troy."

"Ya, see you Monday." he said shocked, noticing that she didn't yell at him. He almost jumped for joy when she didn't yell. He hated fights.

He hung up the phone and stared at the ceiling deep in thought.

Troy wondered,_ Gabriella is just a friend, and nothing more._

Then he remembered everything. The laughs, the hand holding, maybe even a peck on the cheek or two when he was little. Maybe he wasn't suppose to set things straight with Gabriella, maybe he was suppose to set things straight with Sharpay. _Nah. _

Troy sighed, hoping that once he talked it out with Gabriella, everything would be back to the way it was before, and maybe, he just might be able to keep his promise with her. _We'll always be friends._

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**So, what do you think? Good? Bad? I think it's pretty good for my first chapter. Sorry I made it short, I don't really know how long chapters suppose to be. Well I hope you submit good reviews! The next chapter will be written by swt2beepinay. Let's hope things stir up between Troy and Gabriella!**

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	3. Glad You're Back

**[Swt2Beepinay Here's the third chapter, and I hope you guys like it. I tried my best to get the moments just right, and I hope it turned out well. I have also updated True Love on my swt2beepinay account, I'm writing the last chapter for that soon. Please review!**

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Gabriella cursed under her breath as her alarm clock sounded at 9:30 that morning. Her mom wanted her to help unpack so that they could finally get settled by the afternoon, but Gabriella knew that would never happen.

Drowsily, Gabriella found a way to get her feet moving toward the bathroom. She quickly took a shower, and changed in a tank top and shorts, just something comfortable for the long task to come.

She went down the stairs, and saw that her mom was not awake yet, and decided to just watch some television until her mom woke up, but then she realized that her T.V. didn't even have cable, let alone was it plugged. She rolled her eyes at herself, and let out a frustrated groan as she walked toward the kitchen hoping to be able to get some breakfast, but still without luck it was empty.

Gabriella looked around the living room, and just realized she could go ahead and clean her teddy bear for the meanwhile. She went back to her room to retrieve it and came back down stairs. She had to wash it outside since they didn't get a washing machine yet. She got a small tub, and filled it up with water and soap. She sat down on a small stool and soaked her teddy bear, quietly humming a tune, which gradually turned into her singing.

-----

Troy sat on his steps as he clasped his hands together, staring blankly across the street. He woke up earlier than usual, and couldn't go back to sleep. The event that happened two days ago wouldn't stop invading his thoughts.

Troy got up and decided to take a short walk. Not knowing, he brought himself upon a very familiar street. Still looking down at his feet, he followed a tune that he thought was only in his head.

_I need a love that's strong; I'm so tired of being alone_

Troy smiled. He had no idea what song it was, or how it got in his head, but it just did. The soft voice of the girl singing, it was enough to make him smile.

_But will my lonely heart, play the part of the fool again, before I begin._

He noticed the song get louder, and maybe just maybe, it wasn't entirely in his head. He looked to his left, and just saw a house, and then he looked behind himself, still no one. He looked to his right, and didn't find a radio, but a teenage girl singing as she washed something in a small tub.

He stared at her, his mind frozen still. He couldn't think, and he couldn't seem to move his eyes no matter how hard he tried. Her voice mesmerized him as he stared in her direction longingly.

_Foolish heart, hear me calling. Stop before you start falling. _

She sang as she closed her eyes. Her mind drifted to the melody of the song, and her voice followed. Hitting the right notes, staying on pitch, Gabriella was a natural, but she didn't like to sing in front of anyone.

_Foolish heart, heed my warning. You've been wrong before, don't be wrong anymore._

Troy watched her lean back in her stool as she tried to reach the high notes, and he smiled when she did.

_Foolish heart._

Gabriella ended the chorus, and was about to start the next verse, but she noticed Troy standing on the sidewalk with his mouth in a smile. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing seemed to come out.

Troy noticed her looking at him, and he brought his hands up to clap. "Bravo."

Gabriella closed her mouth, and then smiled at him. "Troy, what are you doing?"

He moved closer. "Not much, but I'd like to ask you a question." Casually slipping his hands into his pockets.

Gabriella didn't bother to answer since she knew he would keep going anyway. She watched him with curious as she dropped her teddy bear into the water filled tub.

"When were you going to tell me that, I don't know, come back?" Troy shrugged. Gabriella noticed the sarcasm in his tone, and rolled her eyes.

"Oh yeah, I should've called you saying, 'I'm coming back so there better be a surprise party for me!'" she said, with the same sarcasm in her voice as he had. "And then you would've called the police and then reported my number for stalking."

Troy smiled, and chuckled. "It still would've been nice to know instead of running off like you did two days ago."

Gabriella smiled, and looked back down to her teddy bear, and when Troy saw her do that, he did the same. He looked at the soaked teddy bear, remembered.

"I gave you that," he said softly, and Gabriella subtly nodded.

"I've kept it all this time." She said in the same tone. Troy lifted out the bear from the water, and looked at it closely, smiling at the memory that came with the teddy bear. They both looked up, and instantly, they found themselves looking into each other's eyes.

For the first time, Troy had a good look at her. He noticed how brown her eyes actually were, how dark her hair was and how messy but beautiful it looked in a bun, how her face was evenly tan, and just how much she's changed ever since the were six. _She's beautiful._

As cliché as it sounds, when Gabriella looked into Troy's piercing blue eyes, she remembered all the memories they had, and every moment they both shared. From the memories of when they were four, to the ones when they were six. Two years, 24 months, 104 weeks, 730 days worth of memories, and she felt herself remember them all. She remembered running around the park, eating ice cream together, singing together; all of it.

Finally breaking the silence and the moment, Troy quickly looked away, and placed the teddy bear back inside the tub. He walked over toward Gabriella, and her eyes followed him when he did. Suddenly, he stopped in front of her, and stuck his hand out. Gabriella looked at it confused, raising her eyebrows, and looked at him.

"I want to show you something," he said, knowing the question she was asking him. She shook her head, and pushed his hands.

"I can't, I have to help my mom unpack and I have to clean this up, and I have to—" Gabriella tried to reason, but she heard the door from behind her open.

"Go ahead Gabriella, I'll just start," her mom said. Gabriella looked at Troy and then her mom, and nodded, getting up from her stool. "Oh, and by the way, nice to see you again, Troy."

Troy looked at Ms. Montez when she had said his name, and smiled. "It's good to have you guys back."

Gabriella's mom nodded, and closed the door. Troy turned to Gabriella, who just wiped her hands with the towel that was next to her. Troy took her hand in his, and ran toward his house, just like the last day they spent together.

" Troy, where are you taking me?" seventeen year old Gabriella Montez asked as her hand was being dragged by a seventeen year old Troy Bolton. He opened the door to his house hurriedly and led her into the backyard. He let go and left her standing in the middle of the backyard, as he leaned on the tree, letting her take everything in.

Gabriella looked around the backyard, stunned at how much it has changed. It seemed smaller, but it was more than beautiful. There were new flowers, and definitely no more toys, all she saw was an old swing set in the far right corner. "Why are we here?"

Troy got up from his stance and walked over to Gabriella, taking her hand in his as he led her to the back of the tree. He brushed his hand over something, as if to clear some dust off of something.

Gabriella smiled at what she saw. _Troy _ _Bolton__ and Gabriella Montez, Best Friends Forever._

"Oh, it's still here?" Gabriella asked as she stepped closer. He smiled at him, and gave him a hug. "I've missed you Troy."

"I've missed you too." He said, hugging her back, and they stood there in each other's arms for the first time in eleven years.


	4. Returning to School

**Hey guys, this is swt2beepinay, well not anymore. I actually changed my username to xx shadowdreamer. hehe. dominoesrising couldn't update this, so I had to, and I'm not really sure if she's giving up on this fic. I think I might have to take it as my own, but no worries, that hasn't been official yet. Anyways, without further a due, Engraved with Teddy!**

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"Gabriella?"

Gabriella turned in her sleeping bag, facing the opposite direction of the voice, and annoyingly placed a pillow on top of her head, "Five more minutes!"

"Come on, Gabi!" the voice said. She recognized that voice, and it definitely wasn't her mom's. She took the pillow off her head, and turned around, and found a pair of blue eyes right in front of her. "Wake up sleepy head, it's time for school."

Gabriella sat up, and rubbed her eyes, hoping she would be fully awake, but it didn't work. She turned to look at Troy. "Why are you here, in my room?"

Troy laughed, and watched her raise her eyebrows. "I'm here to take you to school."

Gabriella smiled, and quickly got out of her sleeping bag drowsily, and entered her bathroom, shutting the door behind her. Troy smiled as she shut the door, and then looked around the room. It was plain, and he knew that there weren't many things in it because they had only moved three days ago, and he couldn't help but notice the teddy bear he had seen only the day before sitting on the ground next to her alarm clock. He smiled, and then turned toward the balcony door and stepped outside. He took a deep breath and placed his hands in his pockets.

Gabriella came out of the bathroom after a ten minute shower, with only a towel wrapped around her. She saw Troy outside her balcony, and smiled to herself, quickly entering her closet. She scanned her closet, and decided on dressing simple that day, and after changing she went outside toward her balcony door, and surprisingly it was still open.

Silently, she walked up to him placed her hands on his shoulders. "Boo!"

He turned around and smiled at her. It seems as if all they have been doing was smiling all morning. "Hey, ready to go?" he asked, and Gabriella nodded as she took her bag from the corner of her room, and walked outside.

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"Whoa!" Gabriella said as she stepped out of Troy's car, and looked at East High in amazement. It was the biggest school she's seen, and Troy stood right next to her, and looked at what she was looking at, and laughed. Her head snapped at him, and he looked at her confused face. He shook his head, and took her hand, leading them toward the entrance of the school.

Gabriella didn't feel very comfortable when she felt gazes on her as she walked inside with Troy. She guessed Troy must've been very popular since he was getting a lot of greetings from different people. He lead her inside the school office, and let go of her hand as he walked toward the corner leaving her by the bench that was placed in the middle of the far office wall.

"Hi Lisa," Troy said sheepishly. "Um, my friend needs her schedule. It's her first day."

Lisa, the office assistant, looked behind Troy's shoulder and saw the girl that was patiently waiting for him. She smiled. "She looks like a keeper, Troy."

Troy blushed, "No, she's just a friend." Lisa nodded, and opened the file drawer.

"Her name?" she asked without looking at him.

"Gabriella Montez." He replied. She quickly took out the folder and searched the papers for her schedule, and once she found it, she gave it to Troy. She smiled, and turned around to continue her work.

He turned toward Gabriella and handed her the schedule, "Here you go."

She took the paper from his hand and smirked, "You know, you owe me a grand tour of East High."

"Since when did that happen?" Troy asked confused.

"Since you woke me up very early today," she answered back smiling. He smiled back at her, and took her hand again, and led her outside the office, shaking his head as he did so.

-----

Troy gave her a grand tour, with minutes to spare before the bell rang. The two turned on the corner, and Troy noticed a yellow piece of paper on the wall and smirked.

"Hey Gabs," he said, coming to a stop. "You know what?"

She looked at him, and noticed the face he was making, making her slightly suspicious. "What?"

He turned toward the wall and scanned it. "You should totally sign up for that."

She looked over his shoulder and shook her head, "No, I wouldn't."

He smirked, "You've got a great voice, and you could totally beat Sharpay."

She laughed and kept walking on, shrugging off Troy's protests, heading towards their homeroom class.

Gabriella walked up to Ms. Darbus, her homeroom teacher, along with Troy. He gave her a re-assuring look, and then took his seat, as he let Gabriella work things out with her new teacher.

-----

Chad Danforth rested his chin on the orange basketball on his desk, and awaited for his best-friend to finally arrive. He glanced at the door, and there walked someone who looked vaguely familiar. He narrowed his eyes, and dug deeper into his memories.

Still in thought, Chad watched the new girl intently, not noticing Troy had taken his seat in front of himself.

"Hey Chad," Troy said, breaking his bushy haired friend from what seemed to be a long trance. "Don't hurt yourself."

Chad smacked Troy on his head lightly, scoffing, and his eyes traveled back to the new girl and thought hard. It was when he finally figured out who it was, that his jaw had dropped.

"Dude," Chad said impatiently, as he tapped his friend on the shoulder, somewhat harder than expected. "Is that…"

And before Chad could finish, Troy had already nodded his head. "Yeah, Gabriella Montez, you remember her?"

Chad scoffed at the comment. "Yeah, how can I forget the girl who beat me at a basketball game when we were six."

Troy laughed at the memory, remember how Chad's hair wasn't that long, and at the defeated face he had when Gabriella had beaten him by a matter of two points.

"Those were good times." Troy stated softly.

"Yeah dude." Chad agreed. "Hey, how about we invite her to eat with us today? It never hurts to be reacquainted."

But Troy didn't need to answer since Chad could read his best-friend like a book. His face, as it was staring at her, quite obviously said 'Yes!', and he knew Sharpay would not like this.

-----

"So Gabriella, I'd like to introduce you to my friends." Troy said, as he led Gabriella to his usual table, after they both had bought lunch.

"That's Kelsi, Taylor, Jason, Ryan, Zeke," Troy said, pointing to each one, and each mumbled a hello to Gabriella. "And last but most definitely not least, Chad-"

"Danforth." Gabriella provided, as a smile played on her lips. "I would know that face anywhere. Especially the one when we were six, and I-"

"Okay, now that we know everyone. Let's eat!" Chad announced, not letting Gabriella finish her sentence, afraid of humiliation.

"Wait, Chad, I want to hear what Gabriella has to say." A girl, who Troy introduced to be Taylor, chimed in.

"Well, I beat him at a basketball game when we were six. But no worries, he didn't lose without a fight." Gabriella said happily, as Chad let his head fall to the cafeteria table in frustration.

"I told you not to tell anyone!" he defended, as Gabriella giggled softly.

"Sorry Chad, I totally forgot."

"Whatever, let's just eat." Chad stated, not wanting to continue the topic further. Gabriella nodded, and sat down next to Troy, placing her lunch tray on the red table.

Gabriella got acquainted with everyone, or so she thought. Kelsi, she knew, was the shy one and the musical composer, Taylor was the smart girl of the group, who also happened to be the captain of the decathlon team. Zeke was a basketball player, but loved to cook, Jason was also a jock, and not the smartest she assumed from her conversation with him. Ryan loved to perform, but she noted that everything he had accomplished had something to do with a girl named Sharpay. He also mentioned he loved baseball. Chad, she had already known from past meetings. She had met him during kindergarten when Troy had introduced the two. He was the jokester of the group, but sometimes usually very wise when needed.

"Troysie!" someone yelled from the cafeteria doors. A blonde student rushed in heels toward their table, her heels clicking on the floor annoyingly. "Sorry I'm late. Ms. Darbus wanted my help with the musical coming up soon."

Gabriella watched the girl give Troy a peck on the cheek, and immediately looked down at Gabriella herself.

"Um, you must be Gabriella." Sharpay said sweetly at the brunette, and Gabriella nodded. "Troy told me about you."

Troy noted the evident bitterness in her voice, but she tried to act nice.

"Uh, hi. I think I might be in your seat. I take it, you're Sharpay?" Gabriella said as polite as she could. Sharpay nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes, I'm Sharpay Evans. I am president of the Drama club." Sharpay stated with pride, which everyone had already grown to hate most times. Gabriella took her tray off the table, and got out of the seat, and almost immediately, Sharpay sat down, and clung to Troy's arm.

"Wait, where are you going?" Troy asked once he noticed she wasn't sitting anymore.

"Oh, I think I'm going to go to the library," Gabriella lied through her teeth, and Troy knew better than to believe the lie. He didn't push it any further though, only nodding as his reply. He watched her walk over to the cafeteria door, and push it open with slight effort.

Gabriella walked outside to the hallways, and immediately knew that this was going to be one heck of a school year.


End file.
